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Collections Law/Summons for Summary Judgment

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Expert: Creditwrench - 4/2/2010


Question
I recently was served a summons to answer a complaint stemming from my credit card debt that I owe Amex.  I have 30 days to answer the complaint and if I fail to do so, judgment by default will be taken against me.  I owe the debt, but don't have the funds to pay it.  I was hoping to save up enough money over a year and then negotiate a settlement for pennies on the dollar.  I just sent the collection agency a letter of validation to stall the process.  What else can I do?

Answer

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There are a number of things you can do. Far too many to discuss here but you should definitely have a whole series of letters to send them and end up taking them to federal court when they turn it over to an attorney. Then the process starts all over again with a demand for validation sent to the attorney. You might want to be come a student in order to get all the help and materials you will need to deal with the situation in the most effective manner possible.  

Creditwrench

Expertise

Debt Collections law, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), federal law, how to properly answer court summons for collection cases, how to prepare federal cases against debt collectors, how to deal with debt collection phone calls.

Experience

I've been an active consumer advocate for more than 40 years and have helped hundreds of people win cases against debt collectors as well as helping them defeat demands for summary judgment lodged against them by banks, debt collectors and defeat mortgage foreclosures and keep their homes.

Education/Credentials
Paralegal courses for the most part.
I have been teaching people how to deal with judgments, mortgage foreclosures and other such problems both on and off the internet for many, many years. I am a Richard Cornforth information provider ever since 2000 and worked with many other organizations and causes since 1980. I was Oklahoma State Chairman for the nationwide drive to defeat the Constitutional Convention which was proposed by various factions within our federal government such as the Council of State Governments and the National Organization of State Governors who were working hard to organize a Constitutional Convention to be held in 1995 for the purpose of rewriting our American Constitution to be more acceptable to the United Nations. I worked with Senator Charles Duke of Colorado and Senator Don Rogers of California and many others across the nation to keep them from getting the number of delegate states required to lawfully hold a Con-Con and we were successful. I have worked with many other legislative issues in Oklahoma and have always been very successful.

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